Usually, when I think of the term "breakup", I think of the worst possible scenarios, and something coming to this huge, terrifying, sudden halt.

But I've actually come to realize that (sometimes) breakups don't have to be like that at all. Obviously, this isn't going to apply if what caused the breakup was major lies, cheating, or something along those lines. But, that's not what I'm referring to here, anyway.

My now ex-boyfriend and I recently broke up, and it has not been what I imagined, at all. It was a mutual decision and it's just because we decided it was what is best for us, at least for now.

Neither of us cheated or did anything terrible, but we came to the realization that we just need some time to be apart and if things are meant to be, they will be.

I used to think this logic was so stupid. I seriously could not stand when people would say stuff like that. Or that saying, what is it? "If you love something, let it go, if it comes back, it's meant to be yours".

God, I could not stand when people would say that because, in my mind, I thought, no, if you love someone, you hang on as tight as you can and you make it work no matter what that looks like.

But I now see there are some situations where that isn't the case. Sometimes if you hang on too tight or try to force things to work in your timing instead of God's timing, you're just going to ruin things.

I know there are some people who will say they want to break up, and then go mess around and do whatever, and they want to get back together after they've had time to do that. I just want to clarify that is not at all what I am talking about here.

Honestly, if the situation calls for it, it's actually a really mature thing to step away from a relationship when it's not making either of you happy anymore and there's a lot of other stuff involved.

I'm not saying jump ship every single time there's a storm, but if it gets to that point, putting a pause on thing is actually more mature than trying to force things just because you don't wanna walk away.

Being broken up in my case is super weird because I know it's what is best right now, but I also know that I'm still in love with him, and don't know when or if that'll change.

And how do you be just friends with someone you're absolutely in love with? But things are going to work out how they're meant to, and if I've learned anything these past few months it's definitely that breakups don't always have to end terribly.